EXCHANGE INTERFACE

I can't find my entry from last year (I think I had one, I don't remember. I was kinda busy.)

My hit count is kind of weird - I have one fic with 17K of hits, but only 81 kudos, which is waaaaay below the usual 5-10% kudos ratio.

Kudos, on the other hand, is more or less as expected.

I'm taking out Counterfeit and Counterpart which isn't by me anyway (it's actually by frea_o, I just did the art) - and that's #1, at 10264 hits/639 kudos. MCU, Natasha and Maria friendship, but more Maria from Natasha's POV.

1. And Baby Makes Eight (12783 hits/603 kudos): Maria & Avengers team, Maria/Steve, kid!fic.

I admit to loving this story - it took me ages to write and the story kept extending on me. However the function and dysfunction of the Avengers (and Maria) and their interactions with each other and Pippa is what kept me writing - and, judging by the comments, it's what dragged people in, kicking and screaming, and kept them reading all the way to the fluffy, happy end.

AoU spoilers: In yet another "I wrote it before the MCU did it" moment (I seem to have had a couple of those), Natasha and Bruce have a conversation. Yes, that conversation. Except, obviously, angled differently since the story has a background Clint/Natasha dynamic.


2. A Woman Of Edges (6211 hits /359 kudos): Maria/Steve, relationship, romance.

The story that really kick-started me in MCU fandom - and made me a name for writing Maria. I don't even quite remember how it started, only that I wanted Maria/Steve fic, I wanted more of it, and I wanted a story that showed both why they could get together and the issues that might crop up along the way.

It was surprisingly popular, given that there were 8 Maria/Steve fics on AO3 before that. (There are 389 now. 64 of them were written or influenced by me. Holy SHIT.)

I'd tell you my favourite scene, but I think most of the story is 'my favourite scene'. But I do like the helicarrier takeover attempt, Maria's family in the diner, and getting pulled over by the cop. And making Tony's jaw drop at the end. Good times.


3. Nothing To Lose (6219 hits/317 kudos): Maria/Steve, Steve is a virgin.

I have a fondness for this one - your classic 'Steve loses his virginity' story (just add female character of choice!) with Maria. I particularly liked writing Natasha and Pepper's sections - the essential practicality of them both, in different directions.

And, you know, the sex was kind of hot. ;)


4. The Guy, The Spy, His Not-Wife, And Their Handler (3742 hits/310 kudos): Clint/Natasha, Maria, action, drama, humour.

It should be a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a date rape drug must be in want of a brain.

So, when you're writing something in a big-ass pairing, you go for a catchy one-liner summary, right? Right!

I had so much trouble writing this initially - it was a Reverse Bang (fic written based off a piece of art) done by pentapus and the fic simply would not play ball. Until I had the summary (and first line) and suddenly it was there and it was moving and it was kinda hilarious and, no, Maria DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW about the state of Clint & Natasha's relationship DO NOT TELL HER NO SERIOUSLY DO NOT.

I think this got recced by one of the BNFs in Clintasha fandom, because the hit-and-kudos count went seriously up about a month after I posted it.


5. Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got (5967 hits/305 kudos): Maria, Pepper, Natasha, Jane, Darcy, girls' night out, action/adventure, mystery.

This one should be blamed on madjm, although I think she was hoping for the story to be about Natasha - Maria was totally tagged on the end of the prompt like an afterthought.

This was one of my most popular stories for ages (well, I guess it still is, it's in the top 10): five women, a night out in New York after The Avengers movie, what could go wrong? I don't even remember the process of how I worked it all out anymore, just that I had big plans for where this was going to go, and they fizzled.

I'm trying to finish the sequel for wipbigbang...three years late. Oh well, you know, better late...


6. Mako Mori And The Eleventy-One Thousand Bridezillas (3096 hits/296 kudos): Mako/Raleigh, fluff, post-movie.

Confession: this was reaction fic. Someone in PR wrote a post-movie fic where everyone lives and nobody dies (including Yancy) and Raleigh and Mako were getting married and Mako became a Bridezilla. And when Raleigh mentions this to his brother and Chuck, Yancy says something to the effect of, "Women. They do this." Which: WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK.

Because Mako Mori and bridezilla do not go in the same sentence, unless it's "Mako got so angry with the reporter who asked (for the fourth time) if she was going to go bridezilla on Raleigh, that she stood up, unclipped her mic, set it down on the coffee table, and walked out of the interview without a further word but with Raleigh one step behind."

So this fic is Mako and Raleigh and how they work their way towards marriage. Or, more specifically, how Raleigh works the conversation towards them getting married. (Because Mako isn't thinking of naming and claiming: he is hers and she is his and the formalities aren't necessary.) But there was a lot of cute in there. And awful carpet. And squeaky-spring sex.

(I think people really liked the sex.)

There are no actual bridezillas in the fic yet. Assuming I ever get Part 3 done, everyone else will become a bridezilla, while Mako is all "I just want to marry Raleigh; can't we do this without the fuss?"


7. Hidden In Plain Sight (hits 2083/kudos 281): Maria Hill, Nick Fury, post-CA2, character study.

I think this is the story with the best hit/kudos ratio in the top ten - over 10%, which is my benchmark, although it skews the longer a story is up, and the more chapters it has.

Out of the post Cap2 fics I've written, I think this is still my favourite. It's clever. It's sharp. It looks at both Fury and Maria, the things that made them, the things that hold them together. And it does an excellent job of showing just how deep the trust between Fury and Maria runs - and a little bit of why.


8. Necessity (The Lion-Taming Remix) (hits 2770/kudos 273): Maria Hill & the Avengers, drama, humour.

A remix fic which the remixee never commented on or kudosed. *shrug* Considering the original one was about Thor and nudity and didn't mention Maria at all, I think she wrote this one off as a bad debt. Such is the danger of Remixes - you might get something to your tastes, you might not.

(Incidentally, femmeremix 2015! BE THERE OR I KILL YOU DED!)

Maria Hill and the Avengers and nudity. For great hilarity - and not. Maria and Natasha and Steve getting out of the facility is obviously my favourite, but the opening scene with Natasha is good too: do or die - and Maria would rather do.


9. Like Fish Need Bicycles (hits 4342/kudos 272): Maria Hill / the Avengers, humour.

Some post at Avengers Headcanons on Tumblr prompted this. "All the Avengers have asked Maria Hill out at some point." It was fun to write, and kind of funny - one could just imagine Maria not noticing - or noticing and ascribing entirely the wrong angle to it. My favourites out of these are Bruce and Steve, although Fandral trying to outmatch Thor was entertaining, and Maria is right: a fertility god with performance anxiety? HILARIOUS.


10. The Naming Of Foxes (hits 5918/kudos 268): Mako/Raleigh, post-movie, relationship

This is the story that made my name in Pacific Rim fandom. Amidst a thousand thousand other Mako/Raleigh stories, this one managed to catch fandom's attention - possibly because it didn't go straight for Drift=soulmates, but worked its way through the relationship dynamic until they reached love. It's probably much the same thing as why No Fate was so popular: compatibility is not destiny, and destiny is not love. I gather there aren't many stories in fandom which explore this.

So, 8 MCU (Maria-centric), 2 Pacific Rim (Mako/Raleigh); relationships and humour and a little quirky. That seem to be my bag - or, at least, the bag that people want to read from me. Which is fine - I rather like writing relationships with humour and a little quirky!